Three's a Crowd
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Levy and Lily have to adjust to living with one another. Gajeel just wants a dang towel. Is that too much to ask? - One-shot.


Three's a Crowd

They usually got along so well. Then again, they both were pretty agreeable in most situations. Even when they didn't see eye to eye, they'd be able to work it out. After all, they had their most important shared interest to think about.

"Shrimp! Cat! I need someone to bring me a towel!"

Yep. Gajeel was their own little slayer to worry about and fret over.

"Is anyone bringing me that towel?"

Except for that day. He stood there, dripping wet, in the bathroom for a good minute before stomping out there, nude, to get one from the linen closet himself. Maybe his kitty and his woman were out. Maybe-

"No, _Lily_, I'm going to. Gajeel-"

"This is not fair though, Levy," he heard the cat insist. "You are taking up all of my space. I am not one to complain, but this is ridiculous."

"This is ridiculous?" she repeated. "Out of everything, this is?"

"Well," the cat said slowly as Gajeel, after tossing a towel around his waist, stomped off to find them in the kitchen, arguing. That alone was unusual. Their tones sounded rather serious. "I do not have any space for my own things. Where do you want me to put them?"

"I have a lot of books, okay? They need to go somewhere, Levy."

"And they just happen to have to go wherever I put my things? This is almost passive aggressive."

"I'm being passive aggressive?"

"Yes!"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What about me and the fact tat neither of you could bring me a towel?" Gajeel grumbled. Neither of them even so much as glanced at him, however.

"You always eat all of the kiwis in the house, Lily," Levy said, glaring down at the cat, who was in his tiny form, trying his hardest to look ferocious. "Even when I'm planning on using them to bake with or something. You just eat them all the second I buy any. I hide them, you find them. And you leave their peels everywhere, the few times you actually take the time to peel them-"

"I have an addiction," he told her in a loud voice. "One would think that you were a little more supportive!"

They were both just glaring at one another then and, honestly, Gajeel was getting a tad bored. He was about to turn back around and head back to the bathroom to finish drying off when Levy spoke again.

"If you didn't want me to stay here, Lily, you should have said something. Because I'll just go back to the dormitory if it's all that big of a deal."

"I don't care if you stay here, Levy, but I have been here longer. It is only fair that you consult me-"

"Hold it, cat," Gajeel said, turning back around to look at them. "Levy's on the same level as me now. She doesn't have to consult you. She has to consult me! So-"

"She is taking all of my space!" Lily looked to Gajeel then. "It is not fair. I have certain corners that I like to curl up in and sleep, yet for some reason, she thinks that her piles of books should go there. They cannot. And then I heard her speaking with you about more bookshelves, which will only take up more space. There are three of us in this house now and everyone should be allowed to have their say."

"I'm sorry, Lily," Levy said, "but you have staked claim to every single place I've tried to put anything. Even when I tried to set some picture frames up on the dresser in the bedroom-"

"I like to sleep there too."

"You like to sleep everywhere!"

Gajeel only growled. "Now you're both annoying me. Levy wins, Lily loses. Now would you both shut up? And next time I ask for a towel, I would like it brought to me in a timely-"

"Maybe this house is too small for three people," Lily said then, turning his back on the two mages. "Maybe… Maybe I should find my own place!"

Levy stared hard at him and then, calling his bluff, said simply, "Maybe."

That got a scoff out of Pantherlily, but just as quickly, his determination was sprouting it's head once more.

"Fine."

He was out of the house not a minute later, grabbing his sword on the way. Then Levy and Gajeel were just left standing there.

"Gaj-"

"He'll be back," he said simply, heading to the bathroom. "He's just upset that you're here. He doesn't like change much. You should have seen when I bought a new couch and got rid of the old one. He threw a fit that he liked how the old one smelled and the way that the cushions caved in. He'll get over this in no time."

So she held off on going after him and spent the rest of the day organizing all the things that she'd moved into his place. Gajeel mostly focused on practicing his guitar, which was annoying to her, but she held off on saying anything, just because he'd taken her side earlier with Lily, something she had a feeling was a big deal.

But the day wore on and, when Levy peeked outside at one point, she saw storm clouds were rolling in. Not soon after, a downpour found it's way over Magnolia, thunder and lightening following suit.

"Gajeel-"

"He's fine," he told her as she put on some boots. "Seriously, Levy, you don't need to go out there. He's probably at the guildhall, blowing off steam. It's just thunder."

"But what if he was out there? On the street? And then he heard the thunder and took off running? Then what?"

"Then he'll make it back home."

"But-"

"You wanna go look for the cat, Levy?"

"Please?"

He sighed, heading out with her then. He'd never admit it, but he was rather worried about his cat as well.

"Fine. But if he's in that dang guildhall, you're in trouble," he grumbled. "Making me go out in the rain for nothing."

"Afraid you'll rust?"

He only gave her a look. "Let's go get the cat, huh? So we can just be finished with all this."

But it wasn't that simple. Because they searched and searched. They went to the guildhall, but no one had seen him all day. They went down to the market, to check the fruit stands, but he wasn't hiding out there. They looked under things, searched the air, nothing.

"What if he really thinks that I don't want him in the house?" Levy asked as they ran around in the rain, getting drenched in the pellets dropping down, as they tried in vain to locate their friend. "Because I do."

"I know," Gajeel grumbled, his chest tightening slightly. "I do too."

"I should have never been so rude to him," she sobbed. "He's right. It's his house too."

"Yeah. This is all your fault, isn't it?"

"Gajeel!"

"Well," he said with a shrug. "You know that eventually I went out, got the old couch from the dump, and put it in the guest room for him. You could have at least attempted to accommodate him."

"You were on my side before!"

"I sleep with you," he grunted as thunder roared above them. "I'm weak to that factor. It was a biased decision."

Levy only groaned. "Poor Lily. He needs us."

Lightening shot across the sky and Gajeel only nodded his head.

The little cat had taken to her quite well during storms. Gajeel just usually grumbled at him to toughen up, but Levy would only snuggle him up and pretend to protect him from the unseen enemy that existed within the thunder. Lily really liked that and, honestly, Gajeel was pretty sure that Levy did too.

They eventually were so soaked through that they had to go back home. It was becoming useless. He was nowhere to be found and they'd scoured the whole city.

"I can't believe that I did this to him," Levy whined as they walked into Gajeel's tiny home. "I mean, he needs us somewhere, out there, and we can't get to him. You know how much he hates thunder."

"Who hates thunder?" they heard from inside the dark house, seemingly from behind the couch. As Gajeel moved to flip on a light, Levy ran over there to see Lily squeezed behind the couch and the wall, as if hiding.

"Lily!" she cried, reaching out to grab him. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" he retorted as she pulled him into her arms, making him just as wet. "You're soaked! Both of you. Do you not know to come in when it's raining?"

"We were looking for you, cat," he grumbled. "The shrimp was afraid that you were lost somewhere, scared fo the thunder."

"Scared? I do not get-"

Right on cue, the thunder rumbled outside and Lily's hands flew to his ears. Levy only snuggled him closer.

"It's alright," she sighed. "But… When did you get back home?"

"When it began to rain, I ran for it," he said. "But when I got here, neither of you were here. I thought you went to the guild or something, so I thought I'd just wait."

"Behind the couch?" Gajeel grumbled as he headed off to get out of his wet clothes.

"Well…" Lily only cuddled closer to Levy. "Regardless, you are both far too kind to have been out there in that, just for me."

"Of course, Pantherlily," Levy told him. "We love you."

He slowly released his ears, glancing up at her. Then he smiled.

"You are drenched through and through," he told her then, wiggling in her grasp. "Allow me to get you a towel, Lev-"

"Oh, so she gets a freaking towel, huh?"

"What are you even talking about, Gajeel?" Levy asked with a roll of her eyes. Heading off to the bedroom then to change as well, she told Lily, "Give me a second to dry off. Then we can talk, huh?"

"Take your time," he said as she dropped him gently on the ground. "I can-"

Thunder. He took off running, back towards the couch in the living room.

"I will be right here," he assured her. Levy only giggled before heading off.

When they were all finally dry (except for Gajeel's hair, which always seemed to just absorb water), they found themselves collapsing onto the couch with one another, Lily in Levy's lap as she leaned against Gajeel's arm. He was mostly still put out about something. Apparently they didn't give him towel…? Levy really didn't know what he was talking about.

"-serve me, is what you two are supposed to do," he grumbled as he picked at his teeth with a toothpick. "Why else would I have the two of you living with me?"

They had to listen to him rave for most of the storm. That was mainly because Lily was too busy trying to protect himself from the noises outside and Levy was just focused on holding him, so he knew that she was truly sorry about their blow up before.

When it finally passed, he jumped out of her lap and went to work pulling some of her boxes of books and piles as well out of the places that he liked to nap. Levy only moved to lay down with her head in Gajeel's lap, allowing it.

"I thank you for this," Lily was saying as he happily shoved piles where they belonged. "I have very particular places that I like to nap."

"Mmmmh," she sighed as Gajeel only glared at the two of them, as if suspicious. So what? They were all buddy-buddy again? Hmph. "You can put them wherever you want, Lily. I shouldn't have been so insensitive to the fact that you were here first."

"Not at all," he agreed. "I much prefer working things out with you than when Gajeel tries to move my things."

"I don't move your-"

"He once tried to throw away my sword, claiming he didn't want it in his house," Lily said, "after I beat him in sparring."

Levy frowned. "You did that, Gajeel?"

"…I don't think this is working out, Levy," he said. "Three's a crowd, you know?"

"I hate to break it to you, Gajeel," she sighed. "But you're the extra wheel here."

"What?"

"I concur. Me and Levy just had one tiny fight and look! It has already been worked out," Lily said.

"Yeah. If we'd gotten into it with you about something, no doubt you'd still be arguing."

"Yep."

"So-"

"You two better be glad that I'm so intent on keeping you both," Gajeel grumbled as Levy only giggled and Lily smiled. "Because this is my house, need I remind you?"

"Whatever you say, third wheel."

"Don't call me that, shrimp."

"Has anyone decided on dinner?" Lily asked then, glancing over at them. "Levy? Third wheel?"

"I hate you two," the Gajeel grumbled, much to their amusement. Even he couldn't hide though how glad he was that they were finished fighting.

For the moment at least. Because if one of them neglected to bring him a towel again when he asked, he'd kick them both out in the cold.


End file.
